Engine.



T. F. B ACKET,

ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 20, I918 Paentad 0st. 22, 1918,.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

MB f m TH T. F. BRACKETT.

ENGINE.

I APPLICATION FILED FEB. 20. 1913 mauve.

Patented M22, 1918,

T. F. BRACKETT.

ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED P513120. BIB.

Patentafi. 9015'. 21%

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3 SHEETS-SHEET Izwfe TRACY F. BRACKETT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1918.

Application filed February20, 1918 Serial No. 218,345.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,'TRAoY' Fa BRACKETT, a'citizen of the United State's,1'esiding at hicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in engines, and is especially concerned with internal combustion engines of that type in which a plurality of cylinders are arranged to move bodily about a common axis which is parallel to the axes of the cylinders, the piston rods of said to an angle plate axisdisposed at an which the cylinders rotate.

The objects of this invention are:

First, to provide an engine of the type referred to, which operates in a new and more efiicient manner than engines of the same type structed.

Second, to provide a double of this type; that is, an engine in which cylinders are arranged on both sides of the angle plate and connected therewith by suitable driving mechanism, whereby the forces tending to tralized; and 7 Third, to provide a double ended engine of this type with a novel piston construct-ion.

Ot-herobjects, adaptabilities, capabilities,

which rotates about an ended engine and modifications will appear as the description proceeds, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 1s a central longitudinal sect-ion through my mproved engine, showing certain of the parts inside elevation;

Fig. 2'is an enlarged sectional detail view taken on the same line as Fig. 1, but showing certain details of the structure in section which are shown in side elevation in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is what for the purpose of convenience will be termed a plan view'of the novel piston Which I employ in my double ended engine, shown in connection with a piston rod and the spherical bearing of one of the crank pins on the angle plate;

Figs. 4 and 5 are transverse sectional views taken on the lines 4-4 and 55 re spectively of Fig. 3;

cylinders being connected angle to the axis about which have been heretofore COD-- set up vibrations are neu- .Figspl and 2, th

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional View taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Similarcharacters of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views. efei'ring to the drawings, and for the present in particular to Figs. .1 and 2, the reference character designates the stationary shaft of my improved engine, the outer end of which is keyed to the member 21, theflange 22 of which is prevented from rotating by the flanges 23 of the I beam support member 24. The shaft 20 is provided with a pair of spaced bearing portions 25 and 26 respectively, and an intermediate angularly disposed bearing'portion 27. The bearing portions'25 and 26 are alined with each other and rotatably support the cylinder carriers-28 and 29 which form tlie sides of what for convenience. will be termed the crank case. The cylinder carrier 28 is provided at its outer periphery with a flange 30 which extends to and is bolted to the periphery of the carrier 29 by screws 31. Suitable tapered roller bearings 32 are interposed between the bearing portions 25 and 26 of the shaft 20 and the cylinder carriers.

In that form of my engine which I have illustrated .I employ fourteen cylinders,

seven of-which .are secured to each of the cylinder carriers by having their crank ends secured in suitable equally spaced apertures 33 in the cylinder carriers. As shown in e crank ends of these cylinders ,open into the crank case, thereby facilitating the lubrication of the cylinders, as will be described'later on in referring to my improved lubricating system.

Rotatably mounted upon the angularly disposed portion of the shaft 27 is the angle plate 34, which has extending from the periphery thereof at equal angular distances the crank pins 35,

which are reinforced by angle plate itself, for the purpose of convenience in manufacture, being formed from cast steel. The outer ends of the crank pins are provided with spherical bearings 37, which are rotatably mounted upon the ends of the pins 35. Roller bearings 38 are in terposed between the angular bearing 27 and the hub 39 of the angle plate and the hub 40 of a bevel gear 41, which is secured to the angle plate by means of the screws 42. This construction gives the angle plate a co-axial pin 36 of chrome nickel steel, the

' thereby connects the' two a two point bearing upon the angularly disposed bearing 27.

The piston heads 43 are slidably mounted in the cylinders 4-1 and connected by a cylindrical member 45 which forms-an extension of the side walls of the pistons, and

iston heads so as to form in reality a dou lole ended piston. The crank ends of the piston rods 46 are connected with the spherical bearings 37 by means of socket connections formed by the inner and outer socket bearingmembers l7 and 48. These members are secured in the boxlike .housings l9 on the crank ends of the pistons by means of bolts 50. The housing i9 is provided with afiange 51 for holding the outer socket in position. v

a The head ends of the piston rods 46 are connected with one of the piston headsi3 by'means of a universal joint 52, as shown in Figs. 3 to 6 inclusive,

the pin 53, which has its ends secured in the side walls of the cylinder head and is surrounded by a bushing 5i, upon which is rotatably mounted the member 55, having the oppositely extending trunnions 56. The outer trunnion 56 is provided w1th a flange 57, which prevents bearing 58 of the piston rod surround the ing the member '54 from being displaced outwardly under centrifugal force. The opposite sides of the bearing 58 are provided with openings 59 through which the bushin 5% extends, the openings 5& being of suflicient size to permit the necessary relative movement between the bearing 58 and the bushing 54;.

From the above description it will be seen that by using a single piston rod and connecting the two piston heads I am enabled to do away with one piston rod and correspondingly to simplify the connections between the piston rods and the crank pins of the angle plat'e. From an inspection of Fig. 3 it will be seen that each double ended piston is provided with a central enlargement 60, which is to permit the crank end of the piston rods to movelaterally as they must do during the operation of the engine. To one sideot' these enlargementsGO I secure guide blocks 61, which. slide in guides (52 extending between the cylinder carriers.

The tunctioirot the guide blocks (51 and the guides 62 is to prevent the double ended pis tons from rotating about the axes of the cylinders. The inner socket member 47 is provided with a tapered portion 63 which permits the necessary relative movement between the crank pins and the piston rods.

In operation the successive power impulses created in the cylinders will be transmitted to the angle plate through the pistons and piston rods, and thereby tend to cause the angle plate to rotate about its axis. In order, however, that each piston may exert its force upon the angle plate corresponding crank during its complete stroke, itis necessary to provide some means to'move the cylinders and the ircontained pistons in substantial securing a bevel gear 41, previously referred to, to the angle plate 34s This gear meshes with a corresponding rotated therewith, thereby maintaining each cylinder in the proper relation with the pin of the angle plate to permit the iston to exert its force upon the crank pin C uring the entire stroke of the piston. Due to the fact that tl1e'path.de scribed by .the spherical'bearings 37 when projected upon a plane passing through the cylinders or pistons atright angles to the axes of the cylinders is an ellipse, it will be clear that at times the centers" of the spherical bearings 37 will not correspond exactly with the centers of the cylinders, but will swing from one side to the other of the cylinder centers in both tangential and radial directions. -The amount of this movement is limited, however, and is fully taken care of. by the ball and socket connectionbetween the piston rods and the angle plate and the universal joint connection between the piston rods and the piston heads.

From an inspection of seen that the bearing portion 25' of the stationary shaft 20 is provided with an angular extension 66, which larly' disposed portion 27 of the'sh'aft 20. Suitable keys 68 prevent the rotation'of the bearing portion 25 relative to the bearing portion 27. This two piece construction of the shaft 20 is merely for the purpose of convenience in assembling, as it permits the 2' it will be has a tapered bore for receiving the tapered end 67 of the angu- I unisoii or synchronism with the angle plate. I accomplish this by you my improved construction are described in if? 235,402 and 235,403, filed May 18, 1913, which are divisions of this a plication. While I have descri ed the details of the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the various features thereof may be modified in various ways Without departing from the scope of my invention as set forth in the following claims. 1

' Having thus described my invention, what claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The combination with a stationary shaft having bearing'portions disposed at an angle to each other, a plurality of pairs of opposed cylinders mounted to rotate about one of. said bearing portions, an angle plate mounted on the other of said bearing portions between the ends of said opposed cylinders, a double ended piston mounted to reciprocate in each pair of opposed cylinders, piston rods connecting. said double ended pistons withthe periphery of said angle plate, means for preventing said pistons from rotatlng in said cylinders, and means forcausing said cylinders to rotate in synchronism with said angle plate. V

2. The combination with a stationary shaft having bearing portions disposed at an angle to each other, a plurality of pairs f opposed cylinders mounted to rotate about one of said bearing portions, an angle plate mounted on the other of said bearing portions between the ends of said opposed cylinders, a double ended piston mounted to: reciprocate in eachpair of opposed cylinders, piston rods connecting said double ended pistons with. the periphery of said angle plate, and means for causing said cylinders to rotate in synchronism with said angle plate.

3. The combination with a solid stationary shaft having an angularly disposed bearing portion, of a plurality of'cy'linders mounted to rotate about the axis of said-shaft, with their axes parallel to said axis and with their opposed ends on opposite sides of said bearing portion, a double ended piston mounted to reciprocate in each pair of cylunders, means for preventing said pistons from turning in said cylinders, an angle plate mounted on'said bearing portion, and a single piston rod connecting each double ended. piston with an adjacent part of said angle plate.

4. The combination with a stationary shaft having an angularl'y disposed bearing portion, of a plurality ofcylinders mounted to rotate about the axis of said shaft with their axes parallel to said axis and with their opposed ends on opposite sides of said bearing portion, a double ended piston mounted to reciprocate in each pair of cylinders, an angle plate mounted on said bearing portion, and a single piston rod connecting each double ended piston with an adjacent part of said angle plate.

In witness whereof'l hereunto subscribe my name this 16th day of February, 1918.

nner n Bnaonnrr. lVitnesses EARL F. PIERCE, ALBIN at). AHLBERG. 

